Thy Bridge
by Dnwc Mizu
Summary: When saving somebodies life our main character finds out that our MC has been thrust into another world where technology seems similar to ancient China and Japan. Not only that but there seems to be a bit of a problem with the body that our MC has been put in, can our MC solve the problems?
1. Chapter 1: Fate is cruel

Mizu: ...Got an interesting new idea...

Konton: Yeah... interesting... I'm just a proof reader on this one.

Mizu: ...you are lazy.

Konton: And proud of it.

* * *

Chapter one

"No, you scoop the soup away from you!" He says slapping my hand away.

"Why?!" I cry in outburst. I don't really get all this to eat nicely you have to do it like this. My friend Fuyuki is really good at ancient customs and whatnot... I never understood him. He is teaching me to act more feminine and in return I have been teaching him to fight. I would have just paid for the meals but he said the lady should never pay for the meal unless they were in a steady relationship.

"Because that way if the soup splashes out of the bowl it splashes on the table and not on you... You did it five times this month alone." He says with a sigh, He is way better at me than everything. He even learned martial arts faster than I am learning etiquette. "Close your mouth when you chew!"

"Sorry, I forgot to do that." I say giving him a smile.

"Make sure to do a quick sweep to clean of your teeth if you are going to smile, I can see some food stuck in front of your teeth." He says and I quickly clean it off and smile again. "Good, smiling really suits you."

"I know, mom always said the only thing I am good at is smiling." I respond still smiling.

"She isn't complementing you..." He mutters under his breath. He gives me a smile but I detect something behind it. "I will give you that."

"You know, since you treat me to such nice meals I will never find the meals he treats me to as appetizing." I say, I am not kidding when he said we will be eating out I thought it was at simple eat out restaurants but right now we are eating high class.

"That's if you catch his eye..." Fuyuki mutters.

"Are you implying that you have catch a guys eyes to make him pay for high class meals?" I ask.

"That's usually how it works tsukiko," He says finishing off his food. "But I'm such a nice guy I will do it for no real reason but to help you."

"Yeah, you are the best." I say smiling at him as he gets up and helps me up pushing my chair in. He looks at his watch and I can see the fact he is late for something come over his face. He quickly covers it up though.

"Let me walk you home." He says flashing me a charming smile.

"It's fine I can go back alone, besides aren't you late for something?"

"No, it's nothing big. Your safety is more important, I can just face the consequences." He waves off the problem.

"You have already given me enough time, please just go to whatever you have to go to." I say and he just nods his head.

I walk out the building saying goodbye to Fuyuki. The walk is uneventful as I expected, I can see my house not too far in the distance. Fuyuki worries too much... suddenly I hear a truck honk and I turn to see the lights stare back at me.

I don't think I would ever know if I could have gotten out of the way if I hadn't blanked out because at the moment my mind wasn't working.

"Tsukiko!" I hear somebody yell and feel something push me from behind, a loud thump follows soon after. I slowly turn my head, fear knots itself in my abdomen.

I turn and I scream at the sight of Fuyuki's body lying limply on the ground. I slowly crawl over to him and start shaking his body.

"I told you to go wherever you had to go!" I scream at him while I continue to shake his body, slowly he opens his eyes.

"I told you... that your... safety is more... important..." He says smiling at me. He sounds and looks horrible, I start crying even harder mutter or yelling at him... I can't tell because I am a mess too. I shakingly take out my phone and dial 119 and get house.

I don't know how much time passes but eventually somebody comes and starts asking me what happened, I don't respond, I don't even know how to respond. Soon an ambulance comes and I hop on with Fuyuki. I hear somebody on board say that everything is fine, I am just in shock. After this passes it will get better.

They separate me and Fuyuki but I start having a breakdown... I mean to the point that as soon as they were done saving him they brought me to his side and tried to tell me what was wrong.

I calmed down once I was next to him but I can't hear what is wrong with him... it is a long list but I think the only thing that stands out to me is the fact that he is in a coma.

After a few hours his family comes in. He was an only child but I haven't met his parents before. He rarely talked about them and I haven't been to his house before.

"What is she doing in here?" His dad asks.

"She had a mental breakdown when we separated them... worse than she is now." The doctor said, "We figured she might respond to his or her own parents."

"When are her parents coming in?" His mother asks.

"We don't know, we didn't get a response on their home phone." The doctor said.

"They aren't coming..." I mutter. Everybody looks at me because this is the first time I have said anything since the accident.

"Can you tell us what happened?" His dad asks and I shake my head. "I figured... we will take her to our house, here is our address. In case her parents come here."

"What's her name?" His mother asks.

"Her name is-" The doctor answers but he is cut off by Fuyuki's dad.

"Tsukiko Uesagi." Fuyuki's dad cuts off the doctor with a curt answer. "I'm Atsushi Otomo, this is my wife Azumi."

"It is a pleasure to meet you... please take care of me." I say getting up and giving them a courteous bow.

"My, what a nice young lady." Azumi says, she then pulls me into a hug and starts rubbing my back. I don't know what comes over me but I start crying.

"Thank for taking care of her doctor." Atsushi says and then begins walking out the door.

* * *

Mizu: ...Well we won't be seeing her for a little bit...

Konton: Will she die?

Mizu: Well she is dead in the mind...

Konton: The mind isn't good enough, I'm talking spirit.

Mizu: ... Her spirit has been crushed.

Konton: I'll take that.


	2. Chapter 2: What have I Gotten into

Mizu: ... So I want to take this chapter to explain how we usually work on our stories. Usually either me or Konton take lead role, lead role for this one is me while in vampire king it is should be Konton. Konton usually works at his own pace so he doesn't finish chapters often, I on the other hand work at a regulated pace and try to make sure to do something at least once a month. The point in this is to say that Vampire King might take awhile to get another update.

* * *

Chapter Two

"Madam, please wake up..." I hear some girl say... I don't think she is referring to me since she said madam so I turn to my side and ignore her. "Madam if you are feeling better than you should get up."

I start to get a feeling that this girl is stupid and doesn't understand the word madam... I open my eyes to find a girl staring at me... I get up and look around the room.

"Where am I?" I ask, my voice comes off a bit too high of a pitch. The girl gives me a weird look.

"Madam, excuse this humble servant of yours... but what do you mean by asking where you are?" She asks.

I see a mirror in the background... why does this room look so old fashioned... in fact this whole building looks old fashioned from what I can see. I pick up the mirror and look into it...

I find a beautiful girl staring back at me... She has long black hair... a small nose... beautiful hazel eyes and a flawless face. I drop the mirror where I stand and look down putting my hands on my chest... I wouldn't be surprised if I fainted on the spot.

"Madam, you can't be so careless as to drop stuff like this!" The girl scolds me. "If you aren't feeling well you shouldn't have gotten out of bed."

"Get out..." I say in a dark feminine voice.

"Madam?"

"I said get out!" I yell.

"This humble servant shall heed your orders..." The girl says bowing and walks out. I sit back down on the bed and start meditating... it was the one part of martial arts I enjoyed learning about from tsukiko... that's right I got hit by a bus.

I wonder if tsukiko is okay, I wonder if I died and if tsukiko will get over it. I wonder how it will affect my family.

"Young master... please help me she has been like that for awhile! Usually she is rude and loud but right now she is deathly quiet." The girl says.

"Why should I care?" A guy that sounds to be about my age asks.

"She's your wife!" The girl mentions in an outburst.

I open my eyes and narrow them at the girl and the guy. The girl immediately lowers her head and the guy just stares back at me.

"You seem healthy." He says holding his stare at me.

"Why should you care?" I ask positioning myself in a pose that says I am in charge here.

"Madam!" The girl interjects.

"I don't." My husband responds. "Hana! Will you please leave me and my wife alone for awhile."

I close my eyes and listen to my husband begin to move into the room. "Yes young master." He closes the door behind him. He then rears his head and begins to stare at me.

"Are you going to meet mother?" He asks, I think I hear a bemused expression. I have a feeling his mother isn't somebody I would enjoy talking to.

I stay quiet and time starts passing by, it seems this guy has the patience to drive a snake crazy! I think snakes are really patient by the way, think about it. They wait for a long time for prey to get into the right spot before attacking, sometimes going for days without eating.

"Dear, I think we need to go see mother." He says, I can feel his lips creep up into a smile. He is obviously saying something he finds sarcastic.

"Very well." I stand up and my feet feel as if they are asleep. I follow him to another room in the house to where his mother is.

"Mizuki, how nice it is to see you..." His mother puts an emphasis on the word nice. Obviously it isn't nice to see me, I am beginning to think I landed into a house of snakes!

"Thank you mother-in-law," I say giving her a bow. "It is nice to see you again too."

His mother's eyes widen in response to what I said. What kind of person was Mizuki before! It seems she had no idea what graceful was.

"Have you recovered from your fever? It was really bad, I was thinking you were going to die." His mother states in a matter of fact tone. She obviously thought I was going to die, in fact I am willing to bet my life she was hoping that I was going to die!

I look up to mother and give her a smile. "Mother you obviously were being too cynical, how could you think that you daughter-in-law was going to die at such a young age, I haven't even given you a son yet." I add in the last part because based on the rules of divorce in ancient times a man or parent could divorce a woman if she was:

Unfilial towards her parent-in-laws

Fails to bear a son

Is vulgar or lewd

Has a vile disease

Gossipy

Commits theft

I am pretty sure Mizuki didn't commit theft and she doesn't have a disease but I don't know if she has broken the first three and number five. With the sounds of it she might have already broken all of them.

"Daughter I want to speak to my son, I grow weary and wish to go to bed." She says.

"Of course." I say backing out of the room and closing the door. I have good hearing so even if I was far away I might be able to hear them.

"Son... I want you to get a divorce as fast as possible! She has been unfilial towards me, she doesn't have a son, she has behaved vulgarly, I know she has gossiped about things she shouldn't have, she has committed theft as well! But now she seems to be possessed might as well use that as having a vile disease!" Mother begins the semi-yell. I can't believe she didn't even try to hide her intentions, she must not like me in the slightest.

"Mother, please calm down. She has obviously improved in her attitude towards you just now, she just said she was planning on having a son and I think her personality has vastly improved since the fever." My husband responds.

"Very well, but I know you plan on divorcing her anyway so do it soon." His mother says, I think I hear her leave.

"Junichi." My husband calls. "It seems mother plans on putting a wife she can bend to her will in Mizuki's place."

"Yes, what will we do Katsuro?" Junichi responds to my husband who I assume is Katsuro.

"We will keep Mizuki until we find ourselves a better replacement and marry her instead." Katsuro says.

"What about Mizuki's sudden attitude change?" Junichi questions.

"She is probably just trying to get attention." Katsuro says and flicks his sleeve as he leaves.

The building is exactly what you expect out of a Japanese building but I somehow found it weird... I saw some writing and I couldn't read it. From the looks of the time period though I don't think it would be strange I couldn't read. Or at least I didn't see many books around so... it didn't seem like a big deal.

I walk with the Hana following me. I then walk into a room that seems like a study, good I have been searching for this for awhile.

"Madam? Why are you in the study, you can't read." Hana asks me. As I figured, I shouldn't worry because I can't read. Obviously I came from a weak family and mother-in-law hoped to use this to bend my family's will, obviously it didn't work.

I begin to look over the documents. It seems there are three systems of writing. One for simplistic symbols which are augmented with more complicated ones. The other is a Latin alphabet which is used to do business because the other writing systems can be too vague for business.

I end up sitting in the study for the entire day and it even grows dark out. I begin to get the grasp of the language starting with the Latin alphabet, called Yanto, because it is in use due to simplicity. I then move onto the Joita written form which is the simplistic symbols that stand for sounds. I am still working on the Ruto when my husband comes in.

"Why are you in the study?" My husband asks me. I ignore him and continue studying Ruto, my husband sits down and stares at me.

I continue for awhile but then it starts irritating me because I hate being watched while studying. "I am reading, can you leave me alone?"

"Why is my wife, who can't read, reading right now?"

"Because she is figuring out the written system, it's not that hard." I respond, he just raises his eyebrow at me questioning me.

"It's not that hard?" He continues, "Where was this attitude when I hired you a tutor and you left within the first hour complaining that it was to hard?"

"I suddenly found the desire to read." I say not looking up. He just responds with an ah and continues to think for a while longer.

"I still doubt you can read, or if you can finally tell what a few of the words I doubt you can read that particular document." He says giving me another doubtful look.

This guy doesn't know when to give up! I wonder what this world looks like. I continue to read the scrolls, I mean some of this stuff is pretty cool. Too bad I have been studying the language so I haven't had time to learn about the world I am stuck in.

"Well it's not like I need to prove it to you..." I mutter and pick up another scroll. Katsuro picks up the scroll and begins reading it. The scroll is piece of poetry that wasn't common where I lived but was nice. Actually I noticed this but I am not speaking Japanese anymore and instead I am speaking this new language which I believe is Lotai based off of Mizuki's knowledge. I can actually vaguely remember details of her life but nothing is for sure and what I do remember isn't on command. In fact the same applies for my original life, I know that the memories are attached to my spirit but because of that my spirit is at war with my mind.

"This is about the snowy mountain top, did you understand it?" He asks.

"I did understand it, but it seems you can't read. It's not about a snowy mountain top at all." I say not looking up but I feel him nod his head.

He then gets up from his spot and sits down next to me and begins asking me things. Since I am still studying Ruto I take a bit of time on some parts but I eventually answer him using my knowledge of Yanto and Joita. I am leaning forward to get a better vision of the words. He continues this for awhile and I start to get bored.

"Are you just going to quiz me all day?" I ask turning my face to stare at him in the eyes. He just gives me a lazy smiles and asks another question.

"The answer is obvious because the small line there changes the word to mean exceed or the go beyond." I answer him. I then get up and walk outside and see my maid standing to the side.

"Madam, are you going to bed?" Hana asks. I nod my head and walk to my room. I remember where it was from this morning and after all the exploring I did earlier looking for the study.

I get to my room and undress feeling weird about being a girl, and an attractive one at that. I then get into my sleepwear and go to bed.

* * *

Mizu: I found this really cool picture that fits what I think Mizuki should look like: pin/328551735297977030/

Mizu: I really don't know who illustrated the picture personally but this is where I got it from so yeah... if the artist comes here and gives me a link to his work I will correct the link. I am a huge supporter of fair use and copy right so I don't like using others work but this was to good to pass up. Anyways this is the first story that I am working on kinda full time, Rise of the Bitomi is just a side project so it doesn't fit into my schedule.


	3. Chapter 3: I will read, at ANY cost

Mizu: So... starting a new schedule.

Konton: I've been shackled... to a schedule... I'm doomed.

Mizu: I will update every 15th, or around then. Konton WILL update every 5th unless he is physically unable to do so.

Konton: You do know you're stressing the WILL more than Chapter Three.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

I wake up sweating after having a nightmare... The truck ran me over in my dream I feel the pain that I felt in that moment again but it isn't physical pain, no the emotional pain of being hit.

I get up and put on my clothes, in my original life I was dominated by yin and thus I could be a bit feminine when it came to outward appearance. The maid considered putting my hair up but I adamantly refused, so she decided to keep my hair down and put in some hair pieces to decorate it. I must hand it to ancient woman, they are absolutely impressive with their lifestyle.

"Madam what are you going to do today?" Hana asks me. I ponder it for a bit looking at the gorgeous day and decide that I want to go for a walk into the city. I mean I found where my money was earlier today and I noticed the lack of a blade on me.

Since this was ancient times you would expect a woman to have some sort of protection but I have none, I think I will buy a dagger similar to the tanto. It won't help me in battle but it will be small enough that I can hide it and use for self defense.

"We are going for a walk into the town." I state, I know she is going to object because I get the feeling my standings in the house are really low.

"But madam... Young master expressly ordered you to never leave the mansion." Hana replies.

"I don't care, what is he going to do?"

"But madam he could divorce you!" Hana exclaims. Like I would care if he did that or not, from what I remember our family is in control the military city Beitai. While it isn't a powerful city it fields a good army and even has an army stationed there to protect it in case one of our neighbors declare war.

Actually now that the memories are coming back that is probably why Mother-in-law desired an alliance without family. Our house is in good relation with the emperor but our house itself is weak and we hold a strategic northern city close by to Zanori. "Then let him, he could probably do it right now if he felt like it."

"Then provoking him will push him towards that decision." Hana tries to explain, she continues to follow me out to the doors.

"Um, madam you aren't allowed outside." One of the guards wearily mentions when I walk up. His caution is smart because as soon as he says that I bring my glare upon him and he freezes up, he seems like a strong person but he is a bit hesitant to instigate a fight and thus will back down.

I walk past him and see the bustling city of Zanori, it is amazing. People walk in the streets and there are small booths out on the streets for people to barter with.

I find a booth selling blades and stand a little bit away from the booth to try and find out what a good price is around here. Hana gets impatient and asks me why we are standing in one spot but I just hush her. It seems that a good short blade is about 4 Zuans but the dealer with the blade I want sells them at a high price of 8 to 10 Zuans but if the person walks away he will cave in as long as the deal is fair.

"Sir I would like this knife for 5 Zuans." I say walking up to the booth owner.

"Ah, you have a keen eye young miss. Sadly this blade in 8 Zuans, I'll cut you a deal and sell it for 7 Zuans." The booth owner responds. A good strategy name an expensive price and sell it a bit lower making naive people think that they are getting a good deal.

"I am willing to pay 5 Zuans only." I stand strong.

"Young miss, you are killing me here, fine for you I will lower it to 6 Zuans but no less." He says and I begin to walk away, it's not that I plan to entirely walk away but I know he will sell it because one customer is better than no customer. "Fine miss, you can have it for 5 Zuans just don't leave!"

"Pleasure doing business with you sir." I say handing him the 5 Zuans and obtaining the knife. I then begin to continue my stroll.

"Madam, why did you buy the knife? I thought you hated blades with a deep passion." Hana questions me.

"For protection." I say curtly, the building are made of pretty good material so this is probably a trade city especially with all these different things for sell within the city.

I come across a park and relax in the shade for awhile. I meditate and listen to my surroundings. From what I gather people believe that the current emperor has an interest in the north favoring this over the southern expansion favored by his father.

It's a good thing he isn't militaristic like his father so it looks like he won't be going to war anytime soon and the people in the north don't have to fear an invasion.

I walk back to the mansion and see Katsuro in the courtyard talking with Junichi. Katsuro give me an icy glare that indicates he isn't happy I disobeyed an order from him. He seems like he enjoys relative freedom to use his power.

"Where have you been?" He asks, Junichi looks at me and Hana immediately drops to the ground and bows.

"Forgive this humble servant, I tried to stop her-" Hana says but gets cut off by me.

"I went for a stroll in the town." I said giving him a bored expression. I then head back to the study, Katsuro gives me a questionative stare and Hana jumps up and runs to catch up with me.

"Make sure to inform me when you plan to take a stroll in the future." Katsuro adds to my retreating figure. The mansion is actually pretty grand and the study seems to be impressive for this time period as well.

I continue to read in the study and I have grasped the written language enough to be able to read a bit of history. Most of it is minor and uninteresting but some of it might be good to remember in the future. The biggest thing though is this empire was set up on trade and to this day strives to take the entire east coast in order to dominate the continents trade.

"So you were here." Katsuro says walking in, "what are you reading about now?"

"History."

He sits down next to me and for awhile we just sit there reading. I never really took his looks in before but I must say he is a good looking guy. He is taller than Mizuki and she isn't short, not to tall though just slightly taller than average. He has green eyes and dark brown hair, he is muscular and looks as if he trains daily. From what I can tell he seems intelligent too, I think he looks down upon people due to his different outlook on life.

"I can tell that you are sneaking glances at me." He whispers into my ear. Well sorry for disrupting you, not like I like men anyway. Just that one should appreciate other people's looks.

"Oh..." I say in a quisitive tone. I go back to reading but for some reason I find it hard to focus on the words. I need to find a way to regain my focus.

Oh that's right, didn't think to hard about it earlier but since I learned the written form of Lotai the language seems to be like Chinese in sentence structure. The subject comes first followed by the verb and then the object. I didn't notice this when I was speaking because in this mind it is natural for this to be the sentence structure but once I start writing it out it becomes more noticeable.

I would like to mention the way I have been talking usually follows the process of I hear something and my mind takes it in, then my spirit translates it for me. If I want to say something then my spirit thinks it and my mind translates it and it comes out the in the other language. I have noticed that the body and mind are slowly forcing the language on my spirit so I am slowly just naturally learning the language and speaking it.

Funny how the mind, body and spirit try to force itself to work in harmony. Suddenly Katsuro opens his mouth, "What are you thinking of dear?"

"Language..." I say getting back to reading.

"Such as?"

"I am not going to get any more reading done, am I?" I ask and he just gives me a smile. "Sentence structure to be exact."

"What do you mean?" He asks me as if I am speaking a different language.

"Things such as Subject, verb, and object order." I try to explain, "Like here is the subject and it is followed by the verb and lastly comes the object."

"Oh, but why would you be thinking about that?" He asks, wait does this mean on the entire continent that nobody uses a different sentence structure.

"Well what if a language used a Subject, object and verb sentence structure?" I ask.

"You seem to be asking some weird questions, what language even does that?" He asks and I just shake my head and shrug. I really doubt they speak Japanese in this world.

"I was just thinking..." I mumble and I feel him smile at me from behind my back. I suddenly feel his gaze on my neck.

"Why do I detect a weapon on you?" He asks, I turn my head and stare him in the eyes. His face becomes stoic.

"That is because I have a Tanto on me." I say staring him in the eyes.

"Tanto?"

"It's a dagger." I respond and he just gives me a light smile and points at the scroll and asks me a question. "Don't tell me you need me to read it for you?"

"I would appreciate it if you did dear!" He says as he gives me a smile and lays down. I frown at him and begin to read it out loud, I would have ignored this request but since I have remember all the words reading it out loud helps me.

After reading for awhile my voice gets tired and I begin to meditate until it gets dark out. I get up and begin to dust myself off, Katsuro opens his eyes and looks at me.

"It's dark out, we should head to bed and get some sleep." I say and he closes his eyes and nods his head. I walk to my room and get dress into my nightwear. I see Katsuro from the corner of my eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You are my wife, I think I am sleeping with you." He says in a flat tone. He seems to be getting the attitude that he is the master of this house. Well I guess he is but it's going to take more than that for him to sleep with me.

"Well then the floor is a comfortable place for you to sleep." I say getting into bed, I feel him get in but he doesn't get too close to me so I don't bother him.

"you've changed..." He says in a hushed voice.

"hm, what was I like before?" I ask.

"You mean you don't remember?" He asks me interest seeping into his voice.

"I remember vague stuff from before the fever but nothing too much." I answer.

"Oh, well you were horrible, you often spoke about rumors and gossip and you were a pain to talk to."

"Was I?" I mutter.

"Yeah in fact I think you even tried to poison mother before." He says with a laugh.

"I still might, but the next time I will succeed."

"Well, you also talked loudly and acted in a way unbefitting for a lady." He finishes the conversation, after that we just kept quiet and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Konton: I'll obey the all mighty schedule. *sob* *sob* Mizu: Please anticipate our releases, I enjoy working on them.


	4. Chapter 4: What a lovely aroma!

Mizu: *typing* ... *typing*... I *typing*... need to *typing* ... get a life... *typing*

Mizu: ... Oh looks like a storm is coming in today, guess I better update early.

 **Chapter Four**

I feel as if somebody is touching my face but when I open my eyes katsuro is still on his side of the bed. I can tell he is awake by his breathing pattern.

"How about we get a divorce." I say, his breathing stays level but I can feel him deep in thought.

"I refuse."

"Why?! I know you plan to divorce me and you would have your mother's backing, I have broken all of the six reasons for divorce!" I exclaim, my response wasn't loud but since it has been quiet it becomes the loudest thing to happen so far.

"Well, obviously you aren't the you from the past so none of those reasons exist anymore, And your memory loss isn't a vile disease but in fact a secret blessing." He continues, "I made sure you didn't go into the city in the past because I was afraid you would embarrass us but I think the you right now is allowed to do much more."

"I suddenly feel very irritated, at the moment." I respond, I begin thinking of ways to force him to divorce me but sadly that would require me to go to places I am not willing to go. "Can you leave?"

"Why would I do that?" He asks me as if he doesn't understand why he has to leave. I turn my face and give him an irritated smile. He turns and returns the smile, his smile feels evil to me.

"It's such a lovely day I wouldn't want to hold you up, and besides I want to get dressed."

"Well no worries, I don't see any problem with you getting dressed so go ahead, I am your husband." He states with a smile on his face.

"You might not, but others will when they see me burying your dead body!" I nearly sing in happiness, I hear Katsuro laugh out loud and get up, he then begins to walk out but stops just before exiting.

"We wouldn't want that now would we?" He asks.

"No, we wouldn't." I sigh and he exits laughing.

"Madam, that was young master!" Hana practically yells, I wince and begin to get dressed. "This is the first time he slept here since the wedding night!"

"Be quiet, it isn't that big of a deal. Quickly help me get dressed, I need to go visit mother-in-law." I scold her, what kind of status did I have before! I wasn't even allowed outside, it was as if I was just an object within the house!

"But mother-in-law doesn't require you to visit you, in fact she wished that you did not." Hana explains, what an idiot, this means that she has more grounds to accuse me of being unfilial. What daughter-in-law doesn't visit her parent-in-law every now and then!

"We are visiting mother-in-law." I stand firm, I am not backing down on this. Even though I already hate mother-in-law, she sounds like she has backstabbed people for her entire life. Actually I haven't asked about this but what happened to Father-in-law?

I walk around the compound and hear mother-in-law whispering to somebody. I decide to sit down and meditate, I am not doing this because I am a kind person but when I meditate it helps me listen in on others. Of course when I do this I enter a state where I am unaware of anything else.

"Madam, why are you in such a rush to kill young madam?" A guy asks in a really quiet voice, I mean I almost missed what he said it was the quiet.

"Because what if she ends up having a child, we need to kill her so our reputation remains intact. We can't marry into any good families if our previous daughter-in-law has a son and even if it was a daughter it will make things more difficult." Mother-in-law says, she isn't quiet so I can easily make out what she said. Hana begins moving at my side, I thought she was on the other side. I scrunch my eyebrows in irritation, I am trying to listen right now, I don't need any added distractions.

"But this wasn't a worry earlier on this year..."

"Besides she has suddenly been possessed by a demon, I can see it in her eyes. She isn't the same person, she is colder and more calculating. She once tried to poison me but failed due to her being a complete idiot, this Mizuki will be able to poison me no problem." Mother-in-law says, she then begins to tap her foot.

"Very well, as long as the guard follows the plan I can guarantee that she dies. She still seems to have a frail body so even a demon can't use it for martial arts." The guy says, what?! They don't have any martial arts that take redirecting your opponents momentum? Well not like I need it anyways, I can kill one opponent with relative ease using my blade.

"Of course, I think you should leave before anybody sees you." Mother-in-law says and I hear the door open, I start to lose Mother-in-laws sounds. I then open my eyes and see Mother-in-law staring at me from the open door, I give her a smile that seems as if I am happy to see her.

Her eyes then move from one side of me to the other and I feel Hana bow like she usually does and something I didn't expect, Katsuro's creepy smile. I turn my head and see him sitting to my right, he then turns his head and smiles at me. One thing I learned about Katsuro is he can hold a fake smile for hours on end.

"Mother-in-law, I have come to see you today. Are you feeling better now?" I say bowing and then standing up. I begin to walk inside and then I close the door.

"Yes, I must have caught your fever. But don't worry I am feeling better now." She says giving me a gentle smile, Her room is much grander than my and red seems to be overflowing from everywhere. I would swear it was painted in the blood of everybody who go in her way, I wonder if I will ever end up on these walls if that were really the case.

"Today is cooler than yesterday, there must be a rain storm inbound." I say looking at the clouds in the sky, normally where we are at entails sunny days upon sunny days but since we are next to the ocean whenver a storm occurs we will get rain.

"Are you trying to tell me that you know what the weather will be like in the future?" She asks, if I said yes I would be in trouble because how could a mere mortal like me know the weather.

"Of course not, I am just simply making an educated guess." I say giving her a smile, my smiles so far have hidden daggers behind them but right now this one is more gentle. If I had to give my opinion on it, I would say this is the scariest smile I have given out to date. All my earlier smiles the person could feel my intentions but this one hid all of my intentions.

"An educated guess coming from an uneducated woman? Well I don't really take your words seriously then." Mother-in-law says her face going neutral.

"Are you saying you are more educated than me?" I ask her, I know her answer is going to be yes.

"Of course, you can't even read." She says and pauses before continuing, "I can at least read Yanto."

"Of course, an uneducated woman like me could never read." I say smiling at her looking around the room some more, she has a few instruments. In my original life I got good at playing multiple instruments but I rarely took much more interest than that in them.

"Yes..." She says leaving a silence so thick it was hard to cut through it. "You are staring at my instruments, don't even think about learning to play them. You failed at it when you first came in."

"Hm... well that was probably because I wasn't interested at the time." I say giving off a bored expression, "Don't worry I am still not interested, they look boring to play."

"Something about you now annoys me more than before... I think it's the way you treat everybody as if they are dirt under your feet." She sudden says the words that have been going unspoken since I got here.

"That's because you are the dirt below my feet."

"Hm... well I guess you must have hit your head." Mother-in-law says grabbing a tea set and secretly slips some herbs in.

"Mizuki, I just got this amazing tea from the south. It is simply delicious, you should try some." She says putting a cup out for me and pouring some for me. The tea seems to look like black tea, but then smell obviously shows that it has been tampered with. I think she put in some herbs that cause sleepiness, I feel the mind and body instantly snatch this information from the spirit. Obviously Mizuki has never seen this type of tea and wouldn't be aware of any faults. This is just an elaborate test set up by Mother-in-law.

"Smells unique, though I don't think tea that looks like this should smell like this." I say taking a sniff, I didn't need to do this but obviously Mizuki doesn't notice the small details very well.

"Yes, why don't you take a sip." She urges me, what does she even want to do. I begin to listen to the outside of the room, I need to see if somebody will hear me fall and stop Mother-in-law from harming me.

Hana is breathing outside the door and it appears Katsuro is still sitting in front of the tree. I smile and take a sip of the tea, I resist the urge to spit it out. I mean come on! This stuff is weaker than the stuff from the future, what is she trying to be, subtle?!

"Tastes good, to bad it seems too herby. I might add less herbs next time." I say giving my critique, it was worth it. She instantly widened her eyes and her face began to snarl.

"Well then why did you drink it?"

"It would be a waste to not drink such rare tea, now would it not?" I ask giving her another gentle smile. I think I figured out her plan, She probably plans to blame my sickness on being away from family and send me to my house. Using this time of vulnerability she will try to assassinate me because my husband, Katsuro, doesn't plan on marrying a wife who will be Mother-in-laws puppet.

"Yes, it would be." She says calming herself down. I think she is trying to reassure her that I will not get in the way of her plans to kill me. I mean come on, why would I not get in her way. Nobody just sits down and allows themselves to die when their opponent is as obvious as this.

My vision begins to fade and I feel my strength begin to exit my body. I look and see Mother-in-law smile, I wonder if instead of my blood joining her walls it will be her greed that adds her blood to her wall.

Mizu: ... Finished, wonder what I am going to do with myself today...


	5. Extra One: Mizuki

**Mizu:** So... I'm back. Next month we will probably have a Christmas release, so two chapters.

* * *

 **Extra One**

I open my eyes to see Mizuki standing in front of me, I suddenly look down and see myself in my body. I look around me but all I see is the bitter cold darkness.

"Sorry Fuyuki... I was greedy." Mizuki says quietly, She looks up and smiles at me.

"No worries."

"I had a horrible future ahead of me if I didn't die to the fever, it was foretold that-" I suddenly lose her voice.

* * *

 **Mizu:** This isn't an important part of the story but it will give you an idea of who Mizuki was.


	6. Chapter 5: The Eyes of Another Man

**Mizu:** I am working really hard, trying to ignore the politics. Right now I just want people to accept what has happened and move on. I will be writing for the next four years...

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

I walk into the room to see father and Second Brother sitting. This is unexpected, normally Second Brother doesn't talk with Father. Here I thought I'd be talking to only father.

"Father, brother, I've been poisoned." I say dropping onto the floor. My acting skills are flawless and Father's heart begins to race while brother's begins to beat at a rate closer to hope than of surprise.

"Katsuro who did it?" Father asks, he jumps up to catch me and looks as if he is ready to investigate this matter thoroughly. Brother is just sitting there his breathing coming to a complete stop.

"No one I was just testing your reaction" I say sitting down, my father sighs in relief while my brother begins to breathe again. "Why would I walk to you when the doctor is just down the hall?"

"Why would you be testing us anyway?" My brother asks. How foolish, in this world only trust those who you can see through and manipulate. The ones you can't are the ones you keep closer because you have to find a way to see through their actions and manipulate them.

"Hey, Brother I need someone to go to the Capital." I whisper getting closer to brother. "I need you to go and entertain the Emperor as well as help me gain influence with the stronger lords."

"Why would you ask me?" he asks in a whisper back. Hmm, how should I explain this. I can't tell him I don't want him to gain a power base in the lands up north, it's obvious he will fail at entertaining the Emperor and the stronger lords. My brother is a very boring person who anybody can see scheming a mile away.

"Isn't it obvious, last week you told me of how you wanted to check out the ladies within the Capital." I say putting a hand on his shoulder. He's almost as easy to manipulate as Mizuki is. The wife is the easiest way to harm someone, of course I would use an idiot in the role, she is manipulated but then the person manipulating her ends up harming themselves because she holds no power. "Now I say let's go out drinking before you have to leave.

"I'll stay at the house," Father says. I look at him for a good while. He's been awfully quiet lately and his face seems to be a bit paler than usual, maybe I should get the doctor to check if he's alright. Father then walks out of the room leaving me and my brother alone.

"Me too, I need to wake up early tomorrow I have a meeting with your steward." Brother says before walking out, I need to check out how loyal my steward is. Might as well check out the rest of my council, they don't seem that trustful.

Now then I have a great book I should get to reading, My council can wait. In fact after I finish that book I'll go and sleep in some random corner of the mansion, I know a good spot they'll never find.

"What are you doing!" Junichi yells from behind me, Shoot! I have been caught, now I have no choice but deal with the politics. Junichi is my chancellor and he is the only person on the council I trust. Mostly because he is a freaking dog, loyal to a fault. For the time I have been master of this house he has forced me to maintain the house at pristine condition and in fact he has forced me to improve my power too!

It's not that I wasn't going to do it anyway, it's just that I have plenty of time and entering court politics would be a pain. I would rather just be the king of the north who has little to no influence in court.

If I began to use intrigue I would be in a good position to gain power and influence in the court, it's just all the people in the court smile at you with daggers in their eyes.

"After this book! Please." I start to suggest, but I know it isn't going to work today because Junichi gives me a glare that tells me he knows that I am planning on disappearing when I am done with my book.

"To the study now." Junichi commands me, I thought I was the master of this house! I silently concede, if I want to be able to read in peace I need to do work every now and then.

"Fine, bring me our expenses and make sure our steward hasn't been stealing money from us." My expression suddenly becomes serious and Junichi bows and goes to collect what I have requested.

I think I should marry my brother to one of my friends in Kazila, I need to secure an alliance with them for safety sakes. This would also secure our alliance with Beitai.

I see my wife storming out from her room with her tutor yelling after her. I guess that she didn't take reading very well, guess she is even more useless than I thought.

"Honey, can you fire this tutor, I am not interested in learning to read and write. I spent nearly an hour of boredom trying but I seem to have no talent for it." She says giving me a shy smile, now rumors are going to spread around about how our house isn't hospitable and doesn't value reading.

"Of course dear, I will fire him right away." I say, I will be honest. I feel sorry for her, she has been thrown into a family that hates her. I guess father likes her because she isn't as sly as mother but even that is a stretch because she seems to leave a mess wherever she goes.

"Thank you!" She says cheerily and runs away to make another mess, I think she might be gossiping with the maids.

"I can't believe I am being treated this way by any respectable family!" Tutor Zu exclaims, I better fix as much of the damage as possible.

"I am so sorry, it has nothing to do with your expert teaching, in fact I think nobody could have done better. It has to do with my wife, she obviously has no talent. Please don't hold a grudge against her though, she is but a simple person." I say giving him a smile and pay for the entire week plus a small bonus. "Here take this and go find some other source of income, you would obviously not enjoy teaching here."

"Thank you Young Master Izo, you possess wisdom beyond your years." He responds taking the money, to others it will make me appear wise and benevolent but I know the truth, I am just bribing him to keep his mouth shut as much as possible. Or even if he doesn't keep it shut at least he will put in a good word for me.

"It is nothing, it is the least I can do for you after what happened." I wave off my own generosity. He then bows and walks out of the mansion. I then walk into the study and start shifting through many of the paperwork that I have to respond to, I also make sure to send letters to people that I want to increase my influence with.

"Here are the expenses that you wanted, I have found that the steward has been secretly been stealing money and giving it to Second Brother."

"Then grab the steward, I will need to have a talk with him. Find me a better steward, he got on the council due to his friendship with father but since he is stealing money I have the authority to fire him." I order Junichi and he bows and walks out to find my steward, he wasn't bad, he just wasn't loyal either and that is more important and how good he is.

It seems tensions are rising in the north, I figure the Emperor will deal with it so I don't have to worry about it. The Emperor seems to dislike war so he will try to prevent it as long as possible, his son though seems to be in favor of war and that is understandable. He is a hot blooded male after all.

"Young Master, I have your steward." Junichi say and I see Steward Ma walk in. I smile at him and continue writing, I want to play with him for awhile. While he waits he will start imagining things and slowly his façade will fall apart.

He begins to sweat and his heart beat raises a bit. He then slowly begins to get restless but me and Junichi just silently sit there.

"Do you know why I called on you tonight?" I ask him turning my glare on to him. He just shakes his head and gulps, he obviously knows what this is about.

"I have found out that you have been stealing money from me." I say showing him the proof, his eyes widens and he tries to deny it but I cut him off and continue. "So I decided to give you a few Zuans and fire you, of course you will be banished from the mansion."

"Yes, thank you young master..." He says bowing and receiving the money from Junichi, this is a better end than if I try him as a criminal and bring shame upon him for stealing.

He then takes his leave with a snap of his sleeve. I begin to play around with my brush and Junichi gives me a stare that indicates he is deep in thought.

"You have worked hard today..." Junichi hesitantly begins as if he is thinking he is going to regret his decision. "Why don't you finish up for today."

"I couldn't agree any more with you!" I say jumping up and walking out to get some rest, might as well start finishing the book tomorrow. Or... maybe I can just read it tonight and sleep in all day tomorrow.

Wait, Where is my book? Who actually has the guts to steal my book! If it was one of the servants of the house I am going to kill them, no. I won't just kill them, I will torture them until they beg me to kill them and then I am just going to leave them there for a day to think over their wrong doings, then I am going to kill them.

Wow hold it, I shouldn't be thinking such dark thoughts. I should be kind and forgive them, especially if it's somebody who holds power within the house.

I suddenly feel very sleepy, I guess since I can't read anything I don't have the energy to keep going. Well I just need to go a bit farther, I open the door and begin sleeping in the hay. None of the servants would even guess that I am sleeping here and if anybody is coming in here for feeding the horses in the morning I just go to a different room such as the wood storage. There are plenty of places to hide in this mansion if one knows his way around it.

* * *

 **Mizu:** *Typing*... I like this chapter. *Typing* Katsuro is a interesting character.


	7. Chapter 6:Overlap

**Mizu: So I must apologize but I have been busy, the 15th was my birthday and on the 16th I invited friends over to celebrate. But without further ado the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

"Young Master, do you think Mizuki is going to die?" Junichi asks me while I am reading. I turn the page and continue reading. "She hasn't gotten better for four days."

"If she doesn't die today she will be fine..." I say turning another page in my book, once this one is finished I won't have another one to read for a good while.

"Are you not worried?" Junichi asks me, it's not that it particularly matters. She has been a pain in my side and I am starting to consider divorcing her.

"No not really, I mean what does it matter..." I get to the last part of this book. There is truly not a lot of pages in these books.

I hear something halfway through this last part but I ignore it in favor of finishing my book. Suddenly I have Hana pulling me towards Mizuki's room, I mean this maid must have no personality. She must relish off doing chores and being ordered to do something, as well as taking care of other people.

"Young master... please help me she has been like this for awhile! Usually she is rude and loud but right now she is deathly quiet." Hana tries to explain to me, right now Mizuki is on the bed in a sitting position just staying there. I have an urge to ask her what she is even doing but I suppress it, she is obviously trying to gain attention.

"Why should I care?" I ask, I mean come on she just woke up from a really bad fever stop making things seem worse than they actually are.

"She's your wife!" Hana yells in an outburst, I know she is legally my wife but I didn't care earlier and I won't care now. Mizuki then opens her eyes and begins to stare at me, Hana instantly lowers her head.

"You seem healthy." I say holding my gaze upon her.

"Why should you care?" Mizuki asks me moving to a more lazy stance as if she owns the place. This is a sudden change from her previous attitude.

"Madam!" Hana Interjects Mizuki.

"I don't." I respond, I begin to wonder how mother would handle this new Mizuki. "Hana! Will you please leave me and my wife alone."

"Yes young master." Hana replies and I walk into the room and close the door, Mizuki just closes her eyes again.

"Are you going to meet mother?" I ask, she better say yes. I mean this would be the most entertainment I have had in awhile. She doesn't respond and chooses to stay quiet, I don't have anything else to do so I just stare at her as the time begins to pass by.

"Dear, I think we need to meet Mother." I say after awhile, I can't wait any longer this is going to be entertaining. My lips curl up into a smile as I begin to walk to where Mother is, Mizuki obediently following behind me.

"Mizuki, how nice to see you..." Mother says, Mizuki just keeps a neutral expression but I can tell she knows it isn't nice to see her on my mothers part.

"Thank you mother-in-law." Mizuki says and mothers eyes widen in surprise, I will admit it but I nearly choked when I heard that. "It is nice to see you again too."

"Have you recovered from your fever? It was really bad, I thought you were going to die." Mother says in a fake concerned voice. Mother you don't need to pretend I know you hoped that she would die.

"Mother you obviously were being too cynical, how could you think you daughter-in-law was going to die at such a young age, I haven't even given you a son yet." She finishes in a dignified tone, well if this is just all an act I wonder how long she will keep it up.

Mizuki just sits there thinking for a little bit and Mother does the same, Mother than puts on a weary face and finishes the conversation by saying: "Daughter I want to talk to my son, I grow weary and wish to go to bed."

This is going to be anything but fun, I already know what it is going to be about. "Of course," Mizuki says while backing out of the room.

"Son... I want you to get a divorce as fast as possible! She has been unfilial towards me, she doesn't have a son, she has behaved vulgarly, I know she has gossiped about things she shouldn't have, she has committed theft as well! But now she seems to be possessed might as well use that as having a vile disease!" Mother yells before Mizuki has any time to walk away, I mean Mizuki isn't known for her hearing but even she would be able to hear this!

"Mother, please calm down. She has obviously improved in her attitude towards you just now, she just said she was planning on having a son and I think her personality has vastly improved since the fever." I say, I want to buy time for a better wife to appear, one who won't be influenced by mother and right now the only one is Mizuki and she isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the kitchen.

"Very well, but I know you plan on divorcing her anyway so do it soon." Mother says with a flick of her sleeve she leaves the room.

"Junichi." I call my chancellor and he appears at my side with rapid succession. "It seems mother plans on putting a wife she can bend to her will in Mizuki's place."

"Yes, what will we do Katsuro?" Junichi responds to me with a question, it is a good one too. I think as time passes on my plan to divorce Mizuki slowly grows less appealing.

"We will keep Mizuki until we find ourselves a better replacement and marry her." I answer but even I doubt if I can find one who won't bend to mothers will.

"What about Mizuki's sudden attitude change?" Junichi asks curiosity seeping from his voice. I think he finds this subject interesting, I on the other hand don't like it at the moment. If she has changed then I need to find out how to manipulate her, if she hasn't then she is starting to get desperate and a cornered rat is the most ferocious fighter.

"She is probably just trying to get attention." I say and turn around in a quick movement in order to leave and find a place to take a nap.

My nap is amazing except for the part where Junichi tells me to go work, I give up and head towards the study, to my surprise my wife Mizuki is in there as well. She seems to be reading for some reason, last time I tried to teach her she all but refused to learn.

"Why are you in the study?" I ask her, she doesn't even spare me a passing glance. I sit down and begin to stare at her and she slowly makes her way across the scroll.

"I am reading, can you leave me alone?" She suddenly says in an irritated tone. I suddenly feel the urge to laugh, I don't think she understands how funny the statement she just said is.

"Why is my wife, who can't read, reading right now?" I ask because I am truly puzzled by this sudden change in opinion.

"Because she is figuring out the written system, it's not that hard." She states as if it were a matter of fact, I just give her a rise of my eyebrow as a questionative gesture.

"It's not that hard?" I ask and continue after a slight pause, "Where was this attitude when I hired a tutor and you left within the first hour complaining that it was too hard?"

"I suddenly found the desire to read." She says and I respond with an ah, really this is a big change from her previous personality. I don't believe in demons and that kind of stuff but maybe this really is the case.

"I still doubt that you can read, or if you can finally tell what a few of the words are I doubt you can read that particular document." I say giving her a doubtful look, I mean come on that is pretty advanced stuff for somebody who couldn't read yesterday.

"Well it's not like I need to prove it to you..." She trails off after a short pause. She then puts the scroll to the side and begins reading another one. I pick up the one she was just reading and read it myself. It was one devised to talk about how fleeting a man's life is, almost like the wind.

"This is about a snowy mountain top, did you understand it." I ask and she just keeps reading for awhile, her heart beat stays the same so she doesn't seem to feel pressured.

"I did understand it, but it seems you can't read. It's not about a snowy mountain top at all." She responds, I then get up and sit beside her and start quizzing her on the documents. I am impressed, before she couldn't read but right now even if she is sometimes slow in answering a question if she doesn't know the specific Ruto she still gets them all correct.

"Are you just going to quiz me all day?" She asks in an irritated voice after a long time of me quizzing her. I am not surprised that she got bored though. I give her a lazy smile and ask her another question.

"The answer is obvious because the small line there changes the word to mean exceed or go beyond!" She answers me in an obviously irritated voice. She then gets up and walks out, her maid Hana asking if she is going to bed.

I sit down and begin writing a letter to Second Brother, he has known for awhile that there is no hope in entertaining the Emperor and the more powerful lords but it is too late. I will keep him there longer for insurance but all the power he once held has been dealt with and mother is on her last leg.

It seems I have assumed full control of the house after Father's death. It came at a most pleasing time, Actually I should probably use my some more spies to keep an eye on the north.

I should also cross reference this information with the ones my allies have gathered in case I have been crossed. I really don't trust anybody who calls themselves a spy, they are basically like mercs, they go to the highest bidder.

I start to check the houses expenses, I do this once every other week because I don't trust my stewards. It's a good thing this one seems loyal enough not to steal and if he were to do it he knows what is to happen to him.

My martial seems to be doing very well for himself, I guess in case of an attack we wouldn't have to worry because our army seems to be the strongest it has been, especially considering how it was two years earlier when I was just securing my power.

"Ah, the joys of life." I think out loud, I need to find another book before I fall into the pits of depression. I mean it comes fast and hard. It's not like a book is going to come here on it's own, I have to work for it to happen.

* * *

 **Mizu: It's nice having another POV...**


	8. Chapter 7: Meeting new people

**Mizu: So as an apology I am uploading two chapters back to back...**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

"Young Madam please wake up. We need to make sure that you are all right." A guy I have never seen before says pulling me up to sit up straight. He begins to check my pulse and temperature. "It seems Young Madam is fine, she must be feeling very stressed, I would suggest sending her to go visit her parents. They will probably help relieve the stress and help improve her health, she might be a little homesick."

"Thank you very much doctor, you have served me faithfully all this time. I have no way to thank you, here take this as a small little bonus." Katsuro says handing the doctor a few coins as the doctor leaves. Katsuro then stares at me for awhile as I collect my thoughts, that stuff Mother-in-law used was quit potent but seems to leave the body fairly quickly. "What happened?"

"I drank some tea with sleeping herbs in them, it was a gift from Mother-in-law." I said rubbing my eyes and looking up at him. I then stretch out my arms and jump back into bed, this is a good time to get some extra sleep.

"What are you doing?" Katsuro asks me from where he is sitting, I roll over to face away from him.

"I am very stressed, I need extra sleep. Leave me alone." I say as an excuse, we both know that I am not stressed in the slightest.

"You have to meet with the ladies of the town today." He says getting up and forcing me to sit up.

"I didn't have to do it in the past." I say jumping back into the bed, Katsuro grabs me before I can and begins to drag me towards Hana.

"Please prepare Mizuki to meet with the ladies of the town." He says giving me to Hana, what am I, an item for you to use whenever you want!

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of failing Young Master." Hana says giving Katsuro a bow and then drags me to get dressed. Within a matter of minutes I am thrust in a pretty dressed and my hair is styled, though they couldn't do anything extreme cause I refused to wear those hairstyles.

"What are you so afraid of, you are somebody who rushes in where angels fear to tread." Katsuro says in a mocking tone, I think he is implying I jump into any scenario no matter the risk because I believe I can always handle it.

"It's not that I am afraid, it's just that I am too lazy to deal with girls who like to squabble over nothing." I reply, the things they probably cry over could be found walking on in a straight line for a few meters.

"Well then don't worry, you are probably the worst one so they should be afraid of you. If you are good I will have some fresh meat cooked for you, it was just brought in today." He says giving me one of his gleeful smiles, I look down at my red dress and get lost in thought. I realize I haven't had any meat since I came here, how can I call myself a man and not have any meat. "Dear? Are you going to answer me?"

"Sure no problem, just make sure to keep up your end of the bargain." I respond and I swear I hear him cough, he puts his hand over his mouth and clears his throat. Why is he coughing, I mean nothing seems to faze him, why would he be affected by me agreeing to eat meat... does that mean Mizuki was a vegetarian.

"Wait! Was I a vegetarian in the past?" I ask as soon as the thought pops into my head, Katsuro just starts laughing and nods his head in a yes motion. "You are kidding me! How can anybody be vegetarian at this day in age! I mean you don't even have fake meat!"

"Fake meat?" Katsuro asks me after my sudden outburst, I forgot that he wouldn't understand what I just said.

"It's nothing, just answer my question." I yell at him, this is the worst thing that I can think of happening. No offence to vegetarians, that is your choice but I would rather not be known as a vegetarian. I rather like my meat!

"Not that I remember, why do you ask?" He says giving me that smile, I mean who in their right mind would trust the smile he is giving me.

"No reason, don't worry about it." I sigh and begin walking towards wherever I have to go... wait a second I was never told where I had to go. "By the way... um, where do I go?"

"Courtyard, make sure not to embarrass yourself." He says pulling out a book and beginning to read. "Oh, you probably forgot to ask but it's been an entire day since Mother put you to sleep."

"I already knew, based off of the smell." I said giving him a look over the shoulder and then walking off towards the courtyard. I see a group of four girls talking, they probably haven't noticed me yet.

"I hear that Katsuro's wife is finally coming here." Bafoon number one says, she is in a pink dress and appears to be the youngest. To be honest she is quite the looker as well, her hair is a silky brown and her eyes are a brilliant jade green.

"I hear she is rude and loud, not lady like in the slightest." Number three says, She seems super generic to the point that her hair, face, and body shape scream boring. Not worth me talking about.

"Not only that but the one time she went to eat with her husband she ate the food too fast and it was an unsightly event." Number two adds on, she is a modest looking girl with an ugly heart. Not that hard to spot based off of what she has already said.

"Well she will probably embarrass herself when she gets here so we should all be merciful to the pitiful girl." Number four finishes, she is in a green dress and appears to be the oldest.

In the two years Mizuki has been married to her husband she has managed to get such a low reputation. What kind of prestige was she trying to aim for, court jester for the emperor.

"Why hello ladies, sorry for being late. I was sleeping because my health has been poor as of late." I say giving them a delicate smile, one where I show no teeth. In this time period showing no teeth as you smile is kind of a good thing, makes you seem more graceful.

"Oh, you should be more careful in the future. If you ever need some help on maintaining your health then come to me. I have many years of experience." Number four says, she should keep her offer to herself. If I ever agreed she would poison me in an instant! "I am Kim Hye, but you can just call me Hye."

"Nice to meet you Miss Kim, I think you already know who I am but I will tell you anyway. I am Izo Mizuki, please call me Izo." I say giving her a smile, pretty much I just refused her friendship. Flat out rejected it, causing her to lose face for acting to forward. You can tell because she tried to laugh her embarrassment off.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of the girls, this is Lee Nari, Park Ara, And finally Ro Yeon." Kim Hye says after embarrassing herself, she is really aggressive with her momentum.

"Pleasure to meet you all, here let me pour you guys some more tea." I say waving a maid over, I grab the teapot and gracefully pull my sleeve pouring tea into each cup.

"We have heard many rumors about you..." Number one or Lee Nari begins, I think she is walking into a trap. Well if she walks into it there is no reason to be angry if I punish her for it, right? "You are nothing like the rumors."

"Of course, what person believes in rumors. The person is probably nearsighted and wicked in the heart, the only people who can judge somebody is the person who has met them before." I respond, not like I really believe what I am saying, sure you shouldn't judge based off of rumors but we all know everybody does it.

"Yes, it's very rude to judge people based on rumors..." Number two or Park Ara says. I sit there with a slight smile and just nod my head. Number three, Ro Yeon, then begins to talk about girly things. Why would I need make up in this day and age, I mean it's not exactly amazing. Had this been the twenty-first century I might have considered it but all I really use is lipstick, Hana practically forces me to.

"What kind of makeup do you wear Miss Izo?" Yeon asks me, I feel my eyebrows begin to twitch. Instead of that I make my smile a tad bit larger and answer her.

"I just use some for my lips." I keep my hands on my laps, the way I am sitting is very formal. You would probably mistake me for a well bred lady, right now I am just nervous because I am trying not to do anything rash.

Time passes on and they continue to talk about worthless things, they talk about dresses, fashion and how nice it would be to have a child. I want to groan, I want to hear none of it. In this lifetime I refuse to give birth to a child, do you know how painful it can be to give birth.

The stuff mothers go through to give birth is incredible. Actually interestingly enough the female body is designed to give birth to a child so it is able to take more pain than the male body. But that is me getting sidetracked, almost how I am about to get sidetracked talking about the amazing snacks that they serve here. The fruit here is amazing!

Suddenly I feel a pain seep into my body... I really have no way to explain it but I guess the easiest way to explain the pain is to describe it as if I am feeling the pain of dying.

I walk out all the ladies from the building the pain growing worse by the minute, when they leave I start to limp back to my room. Halfway there I begin to breathe heavily, what is happening!

"What's wrong?" I hear somebody ask me in a calm tone, probably Katsuro. I just shake my head and continue moving, right now the only thing that is on my mind is making it to my bed.

I suddenly feel somebody help me up, I start growing weaker by the second so I let him drag me wherever he plans on taking me. Soon somebody joins him and I open my eyes to see my room. I feel myself sigh in relief but as soon as I finish I cough out something, I think I hear somebody say blood but I can't be too sure.

I look around but I can't make out the people around me, I think I hear somebody say that I am extremely hot and my heart rate is incredibly high. I feel really sweaty too for the record, just hurry up and fix this. You guys can't understand the pain I am in.

* * *

 **Mizu: I really am sorry.**


	9. Chapter 8: Back to the real world

**Mizu: ...**

 ***Inside Mizu's head***

 **Kai: You need to be on time, diligence is a virtue.**

 **Mizu: ...**

 **Kai: *Continue's to rant***

* * *

Chapter Eight

"Are you feeling better?" I ask Fuyuki as he opens his eyes. He just stares at me and gives me a slight smiles, I start to get my hopes up but his next words crush any hope of that.

"Who are you?" He asks me looking at me straight in the eyes, I immediately start to frown. How can he forget me, we were really close before and he just woke up. We should have one of those moments where he makes a joke about me missing him to much or something.

"You mean you don't remember?" I ask and he shakes his head, I would say something but the words get stuck in my throat, I just listen to the beeps inside the room.

"All I know is that I feel very safe around you..." He adds on and I feel a little bit of hope, if he feels safe around me then that means not all hope is lost. He might remember more about the past, I chose this moment to call a nurse up.

While I wait for the nurse I call Atsushi and Azumi to tell them that Fuyuki is awake. It is a miracle that he even woke up... to bad he seems to have amnesia... no I'll be honest it is killing me on the inside, I just stopped feeling things like this four days ago.

"That's nice to know..." I give him a weak smile, the doctor walks into the building and asks a lot of questions to figure out what is going on. He then takes Fuyuki away and runs tests on him again just to make sure everything is alright.

I stare at the lights within the hospital, it is very blinding but I guess that it was always like this. The ceiling is a little dirty, definitely not a pure white you would expect from the building. It's been awhile since I last smiled, I lightly touch my finger to my lips, I guess Fuyuki became a source of happiness in the time that we got to know each other.

I wonder if he will still be the same as before, he was pretty outgoing but seemed to keep important things close to him. Funny, he did a lot for me. We met when I was at my lowest, I was thrown out by my parents and I was struggling to pay for rent. Fuyuki then met me and helped me find a job, from there I began to teach him martial arts. He was good at it but he didn't seem to like it all that much, well he did like meditating. In return he said he wanted to teach me to be more ladylike. I still think that it was just an excuse to get out of work and eat.

"Fuyuki, we should wait up front for your dad and mom to get here." I say leading him sit in the front of the building, his parents should be here to pick him up. His parents come and talk with the doctor awhile before coming and bringing us to their car.

"I have been staying with you these past three days during my free time, you scared me because I thought you would never wake up." I say laughing, the laughter is hollow though and there is no joy detectable within it. He asks his parents some questions but for the most part he is really silent, he does listen to me talk. Funny, even after the accident I still talk and in fact I talk even more now. But that is only when I don't want my thoughts to stray.

"Yeah, you are practically good at everything so I don't think I have impressed your parents. They do like my cooking though, it's not the best they have tasted but it is good none the less." I continue talking and gesturing with my hands, his parents also put a big emphasis on eating properly so I got use to at least the bare minimum as they put it.

Fuyuki's parents are nice but they can be very strict, I can see where Fuyuki got his attitude that everybody is dirt beneath his feet. Actually I always wondered why he didn't treat me that way but I never had the time to ask... and I can't ask him now.

"You're weird." Fuyuki says all of the sudden, I turn and give him a look that is a mixture of a stink eye and surprise because he has been silent for awhile and the first thing he says after opening his mouth is an insult.

"Don't worry about it, she is weird." Atsushi says while driving the car, actually I still can't get over how luxurious this car is. I know they have a limo but Atsushi rarely uses it because he says he enjoys driving so why wouldn't he take out a car and drive himself.

"Wait, are you ganging up on me now." I ask, looking at Atsushi, he doesn't usually say anything that doesn't have a certain amount of importance to them.

"You will get used to it, he used to do it to me in the past too." Azumi sighs, wait why are you reminiscing the past like he wasn't the same cold robot like creature? You are not going to tell me that there is a soul in there.

"He used to be quite the smooth talker in the past!" She continues, wait a second. Don't continue! I don't have a single interest about his past, not one at all.

"He doesn't seem like one at all..." Fuyuki says in disbelief, I mean I can agree with you on that. Where in him does he have the potential to be a smooth talker, he probably couldn't talk a cat into walking outside if he wanted to.

"Well there is a reason you were born, your father obviously had to have some talent." Azumi says blushing, she obviously has very different standards from me. I look out the window and see people's faces flash by, funny at this speed they don't seem to different from the next person over.

Maybe humans aren't very different in the end, I mean we all eventually die. We all need to eat, sleep and drink in order to survive. Look at our bodies they all follow the same basic principles, I mean humans share a ninety-nine percent genetic match with one another. Even if they are not genetically related with each other.

Actually that brings a good question to my mind, why do we have the personalities that we have? The answer in my mind is simple, we don't have unique personalities. I mean I could probably give you a piece of paper describing your personality and you would probably agree with it as long as it wasn't outrageous.

What I am trying to get at is that humans are all pretty much the same, we live the same way, we act the same way and we die the same way.

"This language is interesting." Fuyuki says in a whisper and I turn to question him some more. He is looking out the window right now, reading the signs.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You talk backwards..." He explains. What does he mean we talk backwards. We talk perfectly normally, what kind of ideas are running through his head.

"What do you mean we talk backwards?" Azumi asks in confusion.

"You talk in the order of subject, object and then verb. I am use to subject, verb and then object." He explains, he does take a pause every now and then as if he is looking for the right words.

"But isn't your native language the same as ours?" Azumi continues questioning him. Actually maybe something did happen to him because of the accident.

"No... I mean I don't think so..." He says. Me and Azumi look at each other in puzzlement, Atsushi just continues driving as if he doesn't care.

"Are you saying your native tongue is English?" Atsushi asks and Fuyuki shakes his head and thinks over his response for awhile.

"It's more like Chinese..." He trails off. "I think it started with an l."

"You mean Lao?" Atsushi says as soon as the letter l comes out of Fuyuki's mouth. What kind of language knowledge does Atsushi have?

"No, I think the name is Lotai..." He says and Atsushi's face actually grows confused. I haven't ever seen Atsushi confused before, I know I have only known him for three days but he knew my name from the moment that we had met.

"Lotai?" Azumi asks with interest seeping from her body, she could probably do better at hiding it but that doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is why nobody is considering taking him back to the doctor! I mean something is obviously wrong with his body.

Why is he talking about knowing a different language when he should be a native Japanese speaker. This is going to go downhill very fast.

"Yeah, it is a language that puts emphasis on social standings and respect." He says looking at something that isn't there. "We have three writing systems... I can't remember their names at the moment."

"We?" Atsushi asks, Fuyuki just shakes his head.

"Wait stop!" He suddenly cries in an outburst, he then jumps out of the car and runs down an alley. I try to follow him but end up losing him because the small head start he had gave him enough distance.

I take turn after turn, sometimes I feel like I am going in a circle but eventually I get out of the maze of alleys. I see Fuyuki standing by a bridge, that would have been something to be relieved about but what is on the other side of the bridge causes my heart to seize.

"ku sekota nubate ahin korola, ku na Mizuki." Says a beautiful woman on the other side of the bridge. She has long black hair, hazel eyes and is wearing what looks like an ancient Chinese dress. "Zu ba kantu de fala."

"ku sekota nubate kubo koro, ku na Fuyuki." Fuyuki says, he then rubs his eyes and stares intensely at the woman. "Ga toanafu shiga tola bu ta."

"Taw wu so zan fi, Pain is for those who understand Lotai in your new world. Gu ta so buna nihon-go giyura." She says as she smiles, her smile hides daggers that send chills down my spine. Those eyes are the eyes of somebody who has went through things that I couldn't fathom.

"Then what am I to do?" Fuyuki asks.

"Just never remember your previous memories, they serve no purpose in this life. Enjoy this life because it will truly treat you well, as the people here say Tu ga in mantel" She says walking over the bridge and fading away. Maybe I need to go to the doctor too, I am starting to see things as well.

* * *

 **Kai: ... And that's why you need to apologize!**

 **Mizu: ... I am sorry for being a day late...**

 **Kai: Good!**


	10. Chapter 9: Looking forward

Mizu: ... binge watching, have to find inspiration somewhere.

* * *

Chapter Nine

"Why is it that you have gotten ill so much this month?" Katsuro asks me, he obviously doesn't know that I am conscious. "If you are awake you should respond, it's common courtesy."

"Why should I care? I kind of gave up being a gentleman a long time ago." I say turning onto my side.

"Well that is good, you aren't a man, you are a woman. You should act like a lady not a gentleman." He says attempting to pull me into an upright position. I just stay where I am with a stubborn will, eventually Katsuro just gives up and rests on the bed too. I tried to kick him off but he wouldn't budge. Life just wasn't fair to me.

"Don't you have something to do?" I ask him begrudgingly, what does he do all day if he has time to sleep. Isn't he aspose to be the single ruler in the north?

"I do but this is so much better!" He says in a gleeful tone, I just wonder how he managed to consolidate his power with this attitude. I haven't seen him work once and I have been here for what, five days?

"Then get to work!" I order him attempting to kick him off the bed. He just jumps up into a standing position and laughs at me. He then walks out of the room with a smirk on his face.

"Will I get to rest all day after I complete my work?" He asks me.

"No, why don't we take the doctors suggestion and go visit my family. Actually I guess that could be considered a break anyway so just finish your work." I rant, it's not that I don't know that the doctor is obviously paid by mother-in-law it's just that I don't care anymore.

Madam Izo can go attempt to kill me for all I care, if she succeeds then I am out of this body. If she fails then she is leaving a trail back to her and she might lose all the power she is trying to maintain in this house!

I am sitting in the shade under the tree meditating when I get interrupted for the eighth time! First is was one of the maids asking me what I was doing, then it was Madam Izo asking where Katsuro was. Why would I know where he was, then the steward thought it a good time to try to talk about my expenditures. He was curious about why I suddenly stop spending so much money, which brings up an even bigger question. How did she even spend any money?!

The fourth person to disturb me was Hana asking me if I would like lunch, I have been meditating for a long time and you don't think I would get hungry. Don't mention food, I am meditating. After her it was the gardener, he tried to move me because I was in his way. Well he did succeed for the record, the sun was beginning to bother me as it shifted onto me so I took it upon myself to move. I may have also have ate the food that Hana had brought.

The sixth person was the martial who was a pleasant surprise, even though he obviously looked down on me he handed me the information on the military. Apparently in the past Mizuki was allowed to handle important information if Katsuro and Junichi weren't there to receive it. It must have had something to do with the fact Mizuki couldn't read and she was a trustworthy person. Little intrigue in her entire body.

The seventh person to interrupt me was a lady who was looking for Madam Izo, I may have implied that she was at the other end of the building. The next person was already on my nerves, what point of a serene figure sitting in the shade meditating did they not get. Shouldn't people be able to tell when they should leave a guy alone, isn't there a way to tell if a man wants to be alone? Doesn't he give off a certain vibe?

"Young Madam?" The Eighth person asks me in a scared tone, so they do know that I am irritated and chose to bother me anyway.

"What?" I respond in a harsh tone, the person jumps in surprise. He probably wasn't expecting me to respond in such a rude way. Apparently there were many ways to adress somebody in Lotai, one to address people of a higher standing, same standing and a lower standing. There was also one to address somebody you don't like, that was the one I used to address him with. So it was only natural that he flinched back in surprise.

"I... Um, I have a message for Young Master Izo." He says, looking at his figure he seems to be a little boy, well he was probably a year or two younger than me. Which I would like to mention I am somewhere around the age of eighteen.

"Just hand it to me, he is out of town." I say extending my hand, the kid nods and puts the item down into my hands. He seems a little less afraid of me because I switched my way of addressing him. Once he walks off I start reading the scroll, it says The foundation has been shaken at it's base, If the roof were to collapse then the house would be no more.

Interesting, the message is pretty much means that the south plans to rebel and if the north rebels at the same time that the empire would be no more. What are the politics going down in the south, if this actually happens the north would be threatened and would be a point of weakness to the empire.

The south is separated from the capital and would take to long to capture any important cities but the north could possibly take Beitei, a city which overlooks the only entrance into the empire from the north.

Actually it would be more accurate to say the Mahcu Empire because the ruling dynasty is the Mahcu dynasty, the dynasty name means everlasting so it would translate into the Everlasting Dynasty or Everlasting Empire. To this very day the royal family hasn't even been broken once, this means that support for the rebellion within the heart of the empire is almost entirely impossible.

I go back to meditating but it isn't long before I sense another visitor, will I make it to ten people before I am done with my meditation?

"I hear you have some scrolls for me." Katsuro asks revealing he is the ninth intruder. I do have some stuff for him but why should I just give them to him, well I guess if I don't give it to him it will cause me problems so I might as well give it to him.

"Yeah, they are very interesting. Especially the second one, makes you wonder how the future is going to be." I say pulling the scrolls out from my sleeves. I then hand them to him and watch his face for any flicker of emotion while he reads them.

"Yes, too bad the Mahcu Empire makes sure all the roofs on top of the buildings are strong enough to withstand the collapse of the base." He answers when he finishes reading the second scroll, it is obvious that he plans on taking no part in this civil war that is happening in the south.

"Besides a foolish man tries to take down a house by first destroying the base. It is wiser to destroy the infrastructure of the building and then take away the base, the house would collapse under the weight of the roof rather than the roof needing to collapse for it to work." I give him my opinion on the matter, the south is foolish in hoping to beat the Mahcu dynasty even with the help of the north.

"A wise interpretation of the poem." Katsuro says eyes glued onto the scroll. He then tucks it into his belt and walks towards the study, I follow along with him because I have nothing better to do.

"Do you think we will have to worry about the north?" Katsuro asks me without turning his head. Honestly Beitei is such a strategic city that if it falls the north falls, the one who controls it chooses when and where the engagements take place. Especially since the northern empire has better ships than ours, we have no hope in beating them in an all out navy battle.

"They will be too worried about Beitei, in fact I think that they will be too worried about the sword in front of them that they will forget about the dagger behind them." I answer him, they won't forget about the dagger really. It's just that they will worry about the sword more than the dagger.

"What if they deal with the dagger first?" Katsuro counters my statement. That probably would seem preferable but in reality it wasn't.

"The swordsmen would have time to position himself in a preferable position." I respond walking in step with him, the chances of winning would be highest if you attacked Beitei. Sure you risk the dagger but it would be worth the risk if you took the city fast enough, but you had to do it without taking too much casualties.

"Hm, so the wisest choice is to prepare in case they decide to attack Zanori first but expect their march to Beitei." He says opening the door and letting me in first, I then pull out the map of Taolyi.

"If we place some scouts at Yu lake then either they head south towards Beitei or north towards Zanori. If they try to double back then this city can serve as a warning signal." I say pointing at Mao, similar size to Beitei but way less important strategically.

"What if they double back around the lack and skip Mao?" He asks me but I don't answer him. Is he testing me? What would the old Mizuki have done in this situation? Obviously she would have not gotten into it to begin with. "We should probably have multiple scouts, a system to ensure we know their movements."

"I agree, after all Sun Tzu once said know thyself, know thy enemy. You need not fear the result of any battle." I think out loud.

"Who's Sun Tzu?"

"Knowledge gap!" I say pointing at him.

"I just want to know since he is my kind of man." Katsuro dejectedly replies. To answer him, I would have to say I agree. Katsuro seems to know a lot and likes to figure people out. Which gives me an idea once I return, maybe I want to completely remodel the workforce within the house. They are all too loyal to either Katsuro or Madam Izo.

"You probably would never hear of him again."

"Why not?"

"Ever heard of him before?" I ask him what seems to be a simple question but really carries a lot of weight. It seems like there are a lot of scrolls in this building, almost an unnatural amount for a time period where there are little military strategy or poetry and most are documents containing either business or history.

"No... I guess you have a point. Must be a sage!" Katsuro seems to be energized by this new thought. You know interesting point about the word sage? In this language there is no Tanma, Vaxu or Ral equivalent to it, it only exists in Yui. Yui is the form of addressment used to one's superior, while Vaxu is for people of equal standings and Tanma is for servants. Ral would be for enemies or people you really don't like, emphasis on the really. You just don't use Ral on somebody, which probably was why the servant earlier flinched.

"Ku na, ku bo, ku fa, ku raj." I say outloud, in order it is the way to say I am in forms. Starting from Vaxu, then Tanma, next Yui and finally Ral. Ral seems to use a lot more consonants than any of the other forms so it sounds harder than the other forms.

"Why are you saying the forms?" Katsuro says leaning towards me, he seems to be relaxing a bit. Maybe that is just me over analyzing the situation though.

"I just wonder about the complexities of this language. One would have to be a scholar to fully understand how to abuse it. It's so simple in many aspects but quickly becomes a tool to cut one's tongue off at the drop of a dime."

"It's getting late, we should take a rest and head out tomorrow." Katsuro says, tonight seems to be a restless one. One can never underestimate the safety of home, never be lured by the adventure outside for it could be your last.

* * *

Mizu: I think different cultures are cool and interesting, languages especially so...


End file.
